215 gallon

[unicornis]

This is my newly setup 215 gallon tank

[Achilles Tang]

Hi Unicornis... welcome to SRC!

Nice sohal tang you got there!

Could you describe your system to us?

[unicornis]

This is my recently set-up 215 gallon reef tank. I personally used more hard corals because i like the way they braches out.

Filter: This tank is run by a eheim 2213 canister filter which is connected to a chiller. And also it is also run by a eheim overflow system with a 2op gallon sump.

Lighting: The tank is lit with Azoo metal halide with two u- shaped 17000K actinc blue.

Protein skimmer: Red sea Prizm skimmer

It has 160 pound of live rock of diffrenet kind.

Corals:

Elegance

Xenia

Gonoporia

3- cat eye bubble or grape bubble

jade bubble

2- leather

colt corals

fox

open brain

tea brain

frogspawn

4- hammer head

3- green hammer head

torch

flower pot

green star polyp button polyp glaxy coral

trumpet

sun coral

elephant ear

giant green mushroom

Fishes:

sohal tang

maculosus angel

panther grouper

emperor angel

dragon wrasse

purple tang

cleaner wrasse

red sea cleaner wrasse

King angel (juvenile)

Invertebrate:

blue lobster

cray fish

spider crab

camel shrimp

2- blood shrimp

7 turbo snail

2 maxima clam

This tank photo is not the recent one i will keep you guys updated

[Achilles Tang]

How new is your setup? I'm curious coz your stocking seems to be heavy for a new tank, especially for one running on a canister and coral chips... what are your nitrates and phosphate levels like?

[hongqixian]

This is my recently set-up 215 gallon reef tank. I personally used more hard corals because i like the way they braches out.

Filter: This tank is run by a eheim 2213 canister filter which is connected to a chiller. And also it is also run by a eheim overflow system with a 2op gallon sump.

Lighting: The tank is lit with Azoo metal halide with two u- shaped 17000K actinc blue.

Protein skimmer: Red sea Prizm skimmer

It has 160 pound of live rock of diffrenet kind.

Corals:

Elegance

Xenia

Gonoporia

3- cat eye bubble or grape bubble

jade bubble

2- leather

colt corals

fox

open brain

tea brain

frogspawn

4- hammer head

3- green hammer head

torch

flower pot

green star polyp button polyp glaxy coral

trumpet

sun coral

elephant ear

giant green mushroom

Fishes:

sohal tang

maculosus angel

panther grouper

emperor angel

dragon wrasse

purple tang

cleaner wrasse

red sea cleaner wrasse

King angel (juvenile)

Invertebrate:

blue lobster

cray fish

spider crab

camel shrimp

2- blood shrimp

7 turbo snail

2 maxima clam

This tank photo is not the recent one i will keep you guys updated

The goniopora may die in a few months time. It is notorious for suddenly deteriorating.

You listed flower pot. Isn't that goniopora too? Or are you referring to Turbinaria scroll corals?

If you don't feed your sun coral with meaty foods regularly it will die.

The angels may eat the corals. Some love xenia. The grouper will grow and eat the lobster and crustaceans. Cleaner wrasses have a poor survival record in captivity.

Cray fish??? I think they may be destructive.

Camel shrimp feed on coral polyps. Spider crabs pull up bits of corals and anything they can grab to decorate themselves.

the blood shrimps may/may not be eaten by the grouper. The maxima clams may be harassed by the angels.

Not to be harsh but it seems like you are setting future problems for yourself. How old exactly is your tank?

[Achilles Tang]

Hi Unicornis, your tank looks nice but...

I totally agree with Hong's concerns.... it just seems totally wrong, many of the species listed are known to create problems with other species... they are just not compatible.

Just to add that dragon wrasses are notorious for being a nuisance too.

It seems like your tank is due to self-destruct soon unless you do something... did you research before buying?

Hong, I think the flowerpot coral refers to alveopora. I think the spider crabs is the arrowhead ones with thin long legs (not exactly reefsafe either).. only the decorator crabs are fond of decorating themselves.

[unicornis]

By the way i did not expect my cleaner wrasse to survive that long but so far it is doing superb well in my tank. growing fast too....

[Fishfreak]

Another note - the Sohal may just harasse/ kill new fish that you may add later, more so if its a surgeon or tang. I was very tempted by this fish for my 85G FOWLR, but changed my mind when I learned more about it. Its territory in the wild is 6-8 sqm per fish!

How old is your tank - everyone's asking ....

[Fishfreak]

Just curious - is the prizm doing its job well? I would think 10 of those tiny ps will be needed for 215G.

[Achilles Tang]

Hmmm... your overflows are unprotected! They need some form of 'gate teeth'/fence to protect the smaller livestock like small fishes and snails from going into your overflow!

Do your coral chips trap a lot of detritus? You should aim a powerhead down at them occasionally to stir up the sh*t, so they will swept into your overflow where you can put filter wool to trap them.

Is that an empty clam shell I see and yes, how long has your tank been running?

[unicornis]

My sohal is not fierce at all although harrassing the purple tang at first when it was just added.... but later it get along well with the purple tang and i dun intend to add any more fish.

[unicornis]

That is not coral chip but a new kind of element rock that is able to reduce nitrate and ammonia. Rather expensive and just trying out though... the tank is 1 month plus old and the mouth odf the overflow has one sponge to protect fish from entering

[sduu]

Oh dear!!! One month old and u stock it like crazy!!

Better check your water parameters daily for troubles.

[unicornis]

Dun worry been doing that nothing wrong so far

[X_Japan]

Your tank is only a month old and u are saying that your fish is growing?????

hmm...............

it is hard to mantain your tank in this condition

your tank is especially young, you know that?

especially with a 2213 eheim....

I have tried it before with a 2213 and my tank crashed in the end after 1 and 1/2 years <_<

[sduu]

nothing wrong for now, but 3-6 months time u will see the effects of not cycling your tank properly. Your live stock will perished 1 by 1. I've seen it and I hav experience it too before!

[Explorer]

Yeah. It'll be a slow death for the LS

[X_Japan]

yes...

[Achilles Tang]

Unicornis,

Everyone agrees that what you are doing is kinda on the quick and fast track, similar to what a LFS would do up in a few hours and expected to run right away without crashing.

Since what is done can't be undone, the only thing you can do now for the immediate improvement to prevent a crash is to:

1. Do regular weekly water changes to prevent an overload of nutrients

2. Do not overfeed

3. Do not get anymore livestock, giveaway as many livestock as you can, especially the predator fishes, or not reef-safe LS.

4. Upgrade your skimmer to the biggest/best one you can afford.

5. Do something abt the substrate. No matter if it is made of zeolite or some special absorbent gravel... it will become saturated soon and need to be replaced. Also, the huge grain size will end up trapping a lot of detritus and that will become a dangerous source of pollution. Even if it encourages the growth of nitrifying bacteria, it won't reduce nitrates faster than a DSB of fine sand would.

You use a sponge to protect your overflow mouth?? Won't that clog and obstruct water flow??

What kind of test kits do you have and what are your measurable parameters now??

[anakjoh]

Unicornis, I supposed you had previous experience b4 starting on such a big tank. Would like to hear more from u if possible, especially the "new element rock"?

Hope u don't get put off by the comments so far - I know it sounds like prophecies of doom but really they meant well and many of em are like black belt reef gurus who share their experiences willingly.

Nice tank there and keep it up!

[Explorer]

For now u'll have to follow AT's advice. That's the only preventive action. Or else

[rrrobt]

anakjoh,

are you a tae kwan do black belt ? how many dan ? 9 dan ?haha me blue belt only.

[anakjoh]

I wear a black belt everyday, not to hold up my trousers but to prevent it from slipping under my bulging belly

Sorry to disappoint u, rrrobt

[Achilles Tang]

Wahahaahaha!!!

[Earthborne]

More LS than Seafood Palace!

BTW, did u mention u use some kind of very exp nitrate absorbing rock or something. Care to share abt it. So, I can get some as back up for my system.